


Soulmates, Schmolmates

by profoundalpacakitten



Series: Drabbles and Prompts [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A Crusade Against Capitalism, AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Because Capitalism Is Hydra, F/M, M/M, Prompt Fill, Steve Disappointed Dad Stare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25696501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/profoundalpacakitten/pseuds/profoundalpacakitten
Summary: My entry for the AUgust prompt challenge: Soulmates AU".Steve has been resurrected, and he has a grand total of one soulmate and zero chills. Or that time Steve destroys capitalism for reasons.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson
Series: Drabbles and Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860346
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62
Collections: AUgust 2020





	Soulmates, Schmolmates

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so one might consider this as an... extended outline? A detaiiled summary? It is a drabble at the least.
> 
> So hi, yeah! Woohoo! This is my take on soumates and what if Hydra's Insight scheme was actually a ploy using soumates data to target people?
> 
> You can see how this could be a full blown fic, but right now, I'm just gonna... send that child into the world, like the terrible fic-parent I am <3

"What's this?" He feels like he has spent most of his first two weeks in the twenty-first century asking that same stupid question, like a five-year-old trying to see how far he can push his parents until they run out of answers.

"Special mood ring and watch to find your soulmate." Natasha Romanov, a nice woman, if a little superficial and cloying — also she never really did her hair like women used to and it kind of boggled his mind — smiled sweetly. “Everyone has them now.”

Steve frowned down at the devices. "Used to be, we would find our soulmates all on our own or never, and it was fine that way," he grumbled, like an old coot.

That actually pulled a genuine smile from Natasha, who simply pushed the watch closer to him on the table. "Well, what can I say. This era is all about making things easy, pleasurable and painless."

He frowned.

*

* *

Steve was actually getting worked up now. He had recently found out that crossing his arms over his chest and frowning while working his jaw was still just as impressive and yielded the same results as during the war.

He was now at the far end of a conference table, staring down his teammates in what he hoped was an efficient Cap Is Disappointed In You stare.

“So you are telling me that this” — he pointed at the watch he had snapped in half — “is constantly gathering data on me? On my state of mind and habits?”

“Well it’s…” Tony cringed. “I mean, yeah, when you put it like-”

“And that this is actually _stored_ in a centralised system, owned by a _**private** corporation_.”

“Hey, don’t diss the corporations, okay, you’re actually getting housed and paid by one,” Tony pointed out.

Steve clenched his jaw. Yeah. And that didn’t sit right. He should move out.

But he wasn’t finished. He took off the ring and threw it onto the table. “And that corporation, it’s a _monopoly_.”

Tony looked at him like he couldn’t fathom what he was saying. “I mean, the watches are from Soulfully, Inc. And the rings-”

“Are manufactured by MateForLife and then the software is flashed by MateFlash —”

Tony leaned towards Natasha and distressed whispered “Since when does Capsicle know what firmware flashing is?” Natasha only shrugged.

Steve barreled on, “— both companies being owned by Sunniest, which, oh yeah, has a sixty-percent stake in Soulfully, the other forty percent belonging to several private entities, all shell companies that can be traced back to either people linked to Sunniest or-”

“Okay, okay!” Tony tried to placate Steve. “Okay, we get it, you did your homework. Now, what’s the problem?”

Steve’s eyes opened wide of their own accord. “The hell, Tony? You don’t see the problem with internationally-gathered private data on soulmates, owned and controlled by a US-based private monopoly?”

Clint blew a bubble with his chewing-gum. “Yup, that’s his “Imma bring down those bitches face,” right there.”

Natasha only sighed long-sufferingly.

*

* *

“Bucky?”

“Who the hell is Bucky?” He looked confused, before he turned and fled.

“Holy shit, Steve, was that your soulmate?”

“What?” She pointed to the broken replacement watch that had fallen from his pocket. It showed 00:00. “This thing is broken, Natasha!”

She slowly got up from the pavement, still getting her breath back.

“But yeah, he’s been my soulmate since the thirties.”

Natasha only rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness.

*

* *

“Okay, so.”

Natasha kept her arms crossed, looking dispassionately at the reunion happening right in front of her salad.

“So. Are we gonna talk about…” In the distance, Sunniest Headquarters, which had doubled as a Hydra shell corporation, stopped emitting smoke for a second before it crumbled in on itself. “Huh.”

Not five metres away, Steve was holding Bucky’s hands in his, mumbling soft words of the “and then I wanted to offer you a crusade against capitalism and fascism as a present” kind. Bucky still looked one hundred percent puzzled.

“So, are we gonna talk about the fact that Steve just brought down a company specialised in finding your soulmate while he knew who his soulmate was already?”

“Not now, Sam, I’m rethinking my life choices.”

“Because of the soulmate thing?” Sam frowned. “Did they give you a fake soulmate too?”

She clicked her tongue as Steve smiled sunnily at Bucky and continued expounding on “consumerism-based soulmates are not real soulmates because love is about building something together outside the boundaries of materialism”.

“Do you think we should brain Steve before he writes a whole fucking book?”

“Sam.”

Sam tilted his head as he looked at Bucky nodding and answering Steve’s five-thousand-page-long monologue on the meaning of relationships with a heartfelt, “Okay.”

“Sam.”

“Hm?” He turned his head.

And was promptly kissed. Which was.

Shit, metaphorical fireworks and literal buildings on fucking fire. She licked his lower lip, just a little, just with the tip of her tongue, and it felt both cute, sweet and tantalising. And as quick as it happened, it stopped.

“Oh, shit. Natasha.” He cleared his throat and tried again. “Uh. What… brought this on?”

She smiled sunnily herself. “Well, don’t you think consumerism-based soulmating can’t be completely real without the trial of-”

This time, Sam cut _her_ off with a kiss.

Heh. Soulmates, Shmolmates.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/IngeLunette) for absolute randomness, and also fandom. Also... stuff <3 :D


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